More On Creativity and ADHD

A friend of mine asked me this week to help her with a creative project. It turns out she had to go to a bridal shower and take a humorous story with her. The guests had all chipped in and they had bought the bride and groom kitchen staples - things like trash bags, aluminum foil, etc. Each person in attendance was given a list and had to come up with a story that was as suggestive and embarrassing as possible to the bride to be. I wasn't sure whether to be honored that my friend recognized my creativity or insulted that she thought I could come up with something lewd!

I think I'll be honored. You see, my friend is one of the most organized people I know. Ninety percent of the time she has everything together, is prepared in advance for her classes (she teaches high school), and can keep up with most everything she's responsible for. She also keeps up with about 90% of my stuff because she knows I'm pretty hopeless at organization! She is a sort of ADD coach for me. But, I digress (I have ADD, remember, I'm going to digress!)

It's interesting sometimes how we who have ADD don't recognize our own strengths. We wring our hands and worry sometimes because we haven't accomplished what we wanted or we've made impossible promises or plans because we look at the big picture instead of all the little steps it takes to get to that big picture. We devalue our own worth, but a friend many times can see things about us that we can't see ourselves. My friend saw my creativity. (By the way, we came up with an embarrassing song to the tune of Gilligan's Island - it will not be printed here - this is a family column!!)

Many things that are integral to my being me - complete with ADD-make me who I am. I can see the big picture, so I can tackle some administrative tasks - I'm Vacation Bible School Director for my church this year. Don't worry, I'll get help with the record keeping! But things have gone pretty smoothly, I've done well. My creativity helps me write - this column as well as some fiction.

I feel like I've been a cheerleader lately in my column here, but I think that those of us with ADD need that extra encouragement sometimes. We have problems, we don't do everything right, in fact, we mess up a lot according to the standards of the world at large, but there are many things that we do right and well that are directly influenced, if not caused by, our ADD.

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